Background

The groundwater is not a drinking water source, but the Remedial Action Plan (RAP) (PDF) can give you more detail as to why Maricopa County and the state feels it is important to clean the site. The county has been monitoring the site over several years for a common solvent often dumped in older landfills, known as TCE. We have detected vapors in the soil and in the groundwater 600 feet below the ground surface. This groundwater is not currently used a drinking source, but we want to protect it for future use. The contaminated area is spreading south from the old landfill at approximately 6 inches per year.

Preferred Solution

Engineers call this an "On-site Extraction Remedy." It involved drilling a well on county property south of the landfill, pumping water from below the surface, treating the water and sending it back down another well. There would also be another well in the area for testing. At the northern end of the property there would be an extraction well to remove vapors in the soil and air treatment equipment. Please see the fact sheet for more details.

This plan is to clean this site before the TCE contamination becomes a problem for future generations. It also goes above and beyond what the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has asked of Maricopa County.